HEdwayAbout us
Our vision
A strong higher education sector, where HEdway is a long-term, trusted partner, supporting universities to make positive change – for society and for the sector.
Our purpose
To help universities find the best way to create excellent outcomes for their students and do world-changing research by amplifying the strengths of their people in all roles at all levels.
Our value
From the sector, for the sector: we provide high-quality, results-focused support to universities – delivered by people with relevant, 'on the ground' HE experience who speak your language and know your challenges.
Who we are
HEdway is led by Craig Walker and draws on a network of Associates who work in academic and professional services roles at universities across the UK. This breadth lets us span strategic, operational and turnaround expertise at competitive cost, assembling multidisciplinary teams tailored to each engagement.
How we work
We only take on work we have specific know-how and repeatable methods to deliver. This lets us price and deliver all work on an outcome basis, with delivery risk sitting with HEdway rather than with the client. Because our Associates hold existing posts and have limited time to deploy, projects are configured to use the smallest amount of time needed to deliver the agreed outcomes.
HEdway runs a deliberately lean business: more than 95 per cent of fees are paid to the people delivering client-facing work. Everyone deployed by HEdway has long experience of, and a long-term commitment to, higher education, so money spent with HEdway stays in the sector.
Working with us
Our Associate contracts and payment mechanisms meet the off-payroll working regulations. Our information security policy and its day-to-day operation were developed with Associates who have deep technical expertise in cyber security and information governance, and meet or exceed the criteria set out in Cyber Essentials.
We work to reduce our environmental footprint, including carbon: we have decarbonised travel, we reduce electronic waste, we minimise paper and printing, and we take part in a grant-funded research project on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises to implement sustainability strategies.
Craig Walker
Craig brings over 30 years of experience across the private, charity and public sectors, with the last decade focused on higher education, including operational leadership and strategy roles at Imperial College London. His background combines hands-on engineering, technology-enabled transformation, and systems thinking applied to defining opportunities. He has contributed to mixed-methods research on education, institutional culture and digital capabilities, and works collaboratively across organisational boundaries to build capability and realise strategy.
Craig Walker's LinkedIn profile
Our Associates
The network comprises professionals in strategy, planning, curriculum and pedagogy, digital education, postdoctoral research, education space, people, academic services, student experience, communications, marketing, business intelligence, digital, information security and cyber, strategic change and PMO, and finance roles.
Associates hold current posts at higher education institutions, with agreements in place to work between 5 and 20 per cent of their time each year on HEdway client projects. Group Associates are long-standing members who have each delivered multiple successful projects with HEdway; Network Associates bring specialist expertise on topics ranging from active pedagogy in STEM to anthropological approaches to institutional communication and change. All HEdway Associates are committed to strengthening the higher education sector.